The thesis attempts to construct a preliminary framework with which to
understand: (1) the nature of feminism as a modern social movement; (2) the
expansion of modernity to a global scale; and (3) the immanent institutional
transformations opened up by the expansion of modernity which make possible a
dialogic form of feminist politics. The thesis is divided into three main sections. The
first section explores the nature of feminism as a social movement, sketches the
relationship between feminism and modernity and explains how these interests relate
to contemporary debates about globalization. The broad conclusions drawn from the
discussion is that feminism is a modem social movement rooted in an Enlightenment
project of emancipation and progress. However, modernity must be viewed as a
matrix of tensions and critical potentials. The second section of the thesis considers
the potential and limitation of a Global Political Economy (GPE) framework for
making sense of feminism in the context of the conditions of modernity and
globalization. It concludes that although it is a useful starting place for making sense
of feminism as a social movement, critical GPE is not in itself sufficient. Having
explored the potential and limitations of a GPE framework for understanding
feminism in a global context, the third section turns to contemporary scholarship in
the field of social and political theory. The brief concluding chapter of the thesis pulls
together the main themes of the previous chapters and maps out tentatively how the
relationship between feminist politics, the project of modernity and globalization can
be understood